For six months I was in several abdominal pain that no doctor would address. It was at that time I was rushed into the hospital again with the same type of severe pain that caused my first emergency surgery. They found a small bowel blockage and dropped a Canter Tube in an attempt to resolve the obstruction. At about midnight my wife found me unconscious. My lips and fingers were blue and they could not find a pulse. I was rushed into surgery, adhesions were found to be causing the blockage and they were lysed. I again developed a post-op infection, another partial bowel obstruction, more cutting to lyse adhesions, and then left the hospital about a month later having lost 40 pounds and again in severe pain.
In an attempt to shorten this story I'll just say that more abdominal surgeries over the next 5 years one correcting a hernia while the others attempting to eliminate the adhesions, I still suffered from severe abdominal pain. The surgeon who performed the last surgery attempted laparascopic entry but had to resort to opening me up completely as the adhesions presented problems for the scope. Following the operation this surgeon told me to never again attempt to resolve the adhesions via surgery. He strongly suggested that I stop hoping for solutions and begin to focus on "this is your life" and how best to live given the situation.
The next several years were spent receiving higher dosages of pain medication along with other trials on different meds while spending time with every reputable pain management center in New England. A couple of the best hospitals in Boston Massachusetts tried to provide relief via their Pain Management Centers only to come up empty handed. Again, in the end, I was advised to begin focusing on how best to live with my "condition" and stop hoping for a correction for the problem. In 2005 I was a frequent visitor to the emergency room at the local hospital. In addition to seeing counselors on a regular basis I was on 160 mgs of Oxycontin three times per day, 8 mgs of Dilaudid every four hours as needed, and a whole host of non-pain focused meds. I tried every type of physical therapy in existence. I even saw a physical therapist for two years who would stretch me in severe, unnatural positions to the point bands of adhesions would actually tear during therapy. It was some of the worst pain I've ever experienced. Needless to say the adhesion problem simply continued to get worse. Due to my fairly consistent "zombie" state my wife divorced me. The woman who I had spent 30 years of my life with walked out as she could not take it any more.
Jump ahead a few years. It is now 2009. I haven't made any progress in eliminating the adhesions. I still live with what my primary care physician refers to as "911 pain".
On a positive note however and my real purpose for posting this comment I have made some progress in dealing with my pain, all based on my own research.
First, I could no longer stand the state in which the pain meds left me. I worked with my doctor to slowly cut down on the pain meds even though it meant having to deal with more pain. To be honest, I'd rather be more alert and not have to deal with all the terrible side affects than deal with the quality of life the pain meds left me with.
Second, I read a few articles on some people finding varying levels of relief using EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) and TENS (some sort of nerve ending electrical treatment). I invested in these machines myself and use them at home at least several times per day. It IS NOT a cure but it definitely helps you deal with the more severe episodes of pain. I would strongly recommend everyone get off as much pain medication as they can stand. The side effects of these meds are worse than the pain ! I would also strongly recommend everyone invest in EMS / TENS and use it religously. It's a struggle but if you stick with it and have much support from family you can improve your quality of life. I lost almost everything that was dear to me. My lovely wife, my job (I'm permanently disabled), my High School coaching positions in football and baseball as well as my career training boxers - something I loved with a passion.
But I'm still here. I very rarely go to the hospital anymore as I can no longer deal with certain doctors who refuse to recognize the painful condition that can result from adhesions. I pray everyday that one day my ex-wife might give me a chance to be a friend to her. I live life one minute at a time never looking beyond that horizon. It may not sound like much of a life but it's all I have at this point so it's what I do.
I'm 51 years old. I'm not sure how long I will live as my life is more of an existence at this point rather than *living*. I assume at some point I will take my own life. Until then however, I'll continue to live life one minute at a time, the only way I know how. Good luck to all out there who suffer from this misunderstood and often times ignored *disease*. Bill Murphy